A High School English Teacher Learning to Incorperate 1:1 Devices

A loss, no matter how small.

I posted the following message to our school’s Google Plus community today. A lot of people are unhappy about losing the desktops for next year and I was trying to start a dialogue:

I don’t know about you, but I have been grieving the loss of the desktop computer in my classroom. When we got the laptops, they told us that the desktops in the classrooms would be going away, but I was in denial. I’ve gotten used to using both, plus I prefer working on the desktop than the laptop (more on this later).

This week, when I was reminded of the impending loss, I moved quickly in to anger. That stage only lasted a few hours for me. Then came bargaining – can I please keep it? I really need it? When that didn’t work, I slid into a short depression. So sad. How could I do my job as effectively?

But I am happy to say that I have finally reached the stage of grief called acceptance. First, I was able to understand that it was out of my control . Second, I realized that the reason I prefer working on the desktop is because it is at eye level, it has a bigger monitor, and a bigger keyboard, and even a mouse. Good news! Dawn has plenty of keyboards, monitors, and mice (mouses?) that we can use. If we can acquire stands, then I will have an even better set up than I do now. I can even hook the monitor to the laptop and use two screens at once. If you can, try to check out David’s set up with his computer in his office. Or perhaps he can post a picture here.

Or maybe there are other reasons that you are having trouble parting with the machine on your desk. What are they?